With the advancement of circuit board assembly has come a technique known as surface-mount technology, which consists in the mounting of electronic circuit components and their electrical connections on the surface (through solder-anchoring) of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), rather than through holes (also called "vias"). The PCB itself is a flat board whose front contains slots for integrated circuit chips and connections for a variety of electrical components, and whose back is printed with electrically conductive pathways between the components. An example of such an electrical component is the electrical connector which, when mounted on the PCB, creates an interface between discrete wires and the PCB. Automation of the circuit board assembly process typically involves the use of automated pick-and-place machinery for placement of the electrical components onto the PCB.
Existing de-plugable type electrical connections are usually created on the PCB in the form of surface-mount pins. These pins are built and sold separately, each individually surface-mounted onto the PCB by the pick-and-place machinery.
Unfortunately, dune to the individual mounting of these surface-mount pins, the accuracy of the distance between each pin on the PCB depends entirely on the accuracy of the pick-and-place machine. If the pins are not precisely positioned with relation to one another on the PCB, it may be difficult, even impossible, for the mating electrical component to engage the pins of the electrical connection.
The background information herein clearly shows that there exists a need in the industry to provide an improved electrical connection device for a circuit board.